


The Mark of A Man

by JotDown



Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist
Genre: Gen, Shiro rocks my world Baby Rin Baby Yukio A deadly exorcist needs his baby cuddles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-25
Updated: 2018-02-25
Packaged: 2019-03-24 00:31:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13799592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JotDown/pseuds/JotDown
Summary: Fujimoto Shiro contemplates his new circumstances, and considers his past. Humor/Family/touch of angst if you squint. Oneshot, complete. Originally posted on 01/31/18 on fanfiction.net.





	The Mark of A Man

Disclaimer: I own nothing, I give all credit and thanks to the talented Kazue Katō.

/

Fujimoto Shiro had always been a bastard of a man. He _did not_ look to others to determine his worth. After all, he was a self-made man was he not? He had always been the type to blaze his own path in the world. He was a killer—an exorcist; as deadly to demons and to humans as his smoking habit was lethal to his lungs. _Well, had been at any rate._ He found himself frazzled. In the past, he had no qualms against slitting someone's throat if it was an order given from above—or from a demon.

Glaring at the thought of his friend, he snarled in the dark.

 _Lousy demon kings and their games._ Cracking his neck, he rolled his shoulder where it had fallen numb against the dark oak of the wall. He exhaled wearily, looking up-

 _Fuck, I need a smoke._ He missed the burning relief of his favorite vice, the smell of tar and taste of nicotine like honey over his tongue. It wasn't the first time he had thought it in-

_Three goddamn months. Wait-_

He startled enough to speak out loud, "Has it really been…"-

He squinted through the darkness of the room, observing no disturbance, "three months?"

His hand twitched by his side, restless. His head thumped back against the wall and he swore he caught the phantom scent of cigarette smoke in the empty air of the nursery around him.

He sat still again, considering. Right, he was a father now wasn't he? Two twin boys, fraternal, helpless, so, so _helpless_. For the first time in his life he was unsure, unsteady, off-balanced. How was a murderer supposed to raise innocents?

 _Fuck me,_ he sighed shakily, _the boys are probably already tainted. Father of the year right here, and only three months in._

His lips quirked in dark amusement. Well, he supposed considering the other _**fatherly**_ candidate he _was_ a cut above. Even when he had stolen that damnable sword he couldn't bring himself to unsheathe it and…and… his smirk fell.

The yearn for a drag hit him hard again. He pulled himself to his feet with a sigh and walked to the second-hand cribs paralleling each other. He looked into the scruffy, paint-chipped and off-white interior and sighed again.

 _Yukio…._ The babe breathed softly, chest rising and falling in peaceful sleep. He laid strangely proper for a newborn, his arms tucked securely beside him. He smiled, Yukio was a gentle child.

A soft gurgle had his smile turning rueful. He canted his head and looked into the crib of the other— _Rin._ Now this boy, he was….different. His hands were splayed out like a sacrifice, the sheets turned and twisted in a way that should have been impossible given his age, but then again he was a special child. _He would be wild_. Taking a step back, he observed his adopted sons objectively.

_In the end, I couldn't murder you. I couldn't take your life. When you, Rin, smiled in the face of death, and when you, Yukio, showed your human need for warmth as you snuggled into Yuri...I fell in love. Something I thought beyond lost to a damned exorcist like me._

Fujimoto Shiro would be a bastard of a man for the remainder of his life. His mark as a ruthless murderer had been forever tainted—the knowing smirk of Mephy continued to haunt his every waking moment in reminder—but now he found a new path opening before him. A clean, slightly less brutal one.

_A new way to make my mark, huh? God of Heaven and Assiah, favor me._

But…looking back down he found himself grinning wildly. He was oddly excited at the prospect.

 _Now, to sneak out and take a small break, no one would know right?_ As he stepped quietly forward, Rin's echoing shriek broke the silence causing him to reflexively crush the hidden pack he had pulled out. Groaning, he dropped the ruined pack to the ground. He found his smile again, even as Rin's cries echoed like church bells beckoning sinners to Christmas Mass.

Scooping the flailing baby up into his arms, he gently thumped his back as he did an awkward waltzing bounce around the room.

_A new mark, a new man. My boys, my Rin and Yukio, you may have saved me instead. What a divine comedy my life has turned into, what a fucking miracle._

_Thank you, sons._


End file.
